Photo: Quintin Soloviev · CC BY 4.0Jobs, pay and the trip to work in Brunswick
Jobs and income earn Brunswick B; getting around on foot earns it A. About one in four stay in Brunswick for work; outside it, Portland is the main destination (14%, 21 miles). Commuters spend 23 minutes getting to work on average, where Maine has 25 and the U.S. 26.
Census ACS 2020–24, Census LEHD 2023, EPA Smart Location Database. How the two grades are made
The figures behind Brunswick’s Jobs & income grade
On income, poverty, unemployment and job access, Brunswick is better than 56% of U.S. towns, #70 of 143 in Maine. The poverty rate holds Brunswick’s grade up (7.7%, U.S. 12.5%); unemployment pulls it down (4.6%, U.S. 5.2%). It also does well on job access by car.
A rough placement. Within the Census margins of error for income, poverty and unemployment, Brunswick could be anywhere from C+ to A−.
The daily commute in and out of Brunswick
On a workday 6,704 residents head out to work, 2,194 work right here, and 8,534 people come in from elsewhere.
About as many people by day as by night: the people who leave are replaced by the people who come in.
About as many jobs as working residents (1.21 per resident).
Workday population = residents − those who work elsewhere + those who come in (the Census “commuter-adjusted” method). Residents: Census survey; commuters: LEHD 2023, primary jobs.
Commuting out of Brunswick: the destinations
Where Brunswick clocks in
14% of workers
7% of workers
4% of workersLines run between town centers. The top 10 towns each way; “Everywhere else” is the rest, including other states.
A thicker line means more commuters. Switch between where residents work and where the people who work here live.
The 10,728 jobs based in Brunswick
What kind of work
What it pays
Who does it
Jobs based in Brunswick, 2013 → 2023: 10,543 → 10,728. Big swings can come from how a large employer reports its locations, not only from real openings or closings.
Primary jobs covered by unemployment insurance (not the self-employed). Pay is monthly earnings. LEHD 2023.
Here is what they are, next to the jobs Brunswick’s own residents hold wherever they work.
About 23 minutes each way for Brunswick’s commuters
Round trip, about 230 workdays a year: roughly 7.5 full days in the car, bus or train.
Average commute minutes, one way
of Brunswick workers work from home, vs 16% across Maine. Their commute is the hallway.
Share of the 8,630 commuters (the 20% who work from home are left out). Across Maine: 84% drive alone, 1% take transit; U.S.: 81% and 4%. Census ACS 2020–24.
From the Census survey of workers who don’t work from home.
Near or far: the trip to work from Brunswick
Straight-line distance from each worker’s home block to their main job’s block. LEHD 2023.
Every working resident’s trip, home to work, as the crow flies. Roads add to it, so real drives run longer.
Brunswick is more walkable than most U.S. towns, with limited transit
On EPA’s walkability index and the share of commuters who walk, bike or take transit, Brunswick is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns, #6 of 143 in Maine. How people get to work scores higher than the street layout: 13.7% of commuters walk, bike or take transit, against 5.0% across Maine, on an EPA index of 8.2.
A firm grade. EPA’s index has no published margin of error; the commuting share comes from a Census survey of 10,763 workers.
How TownRatings grades walkability →
Transit service (shown, not graded). 27% of residents live within a ¾-mile walk of a bus or train stop, 0% within a quarter mile. At the weekday evening rush, about 0.8 trips an hour stop near the typical resident, more than in 55% of the 9,825 U.S. towns with transit data.
Transit at the evening rush trips an hour stopping within ¼ mile of the typical resident, EPA 2020
Households without a car (shown, not graded). 6.8% of Brunswick households have no vehicle (Maine 6.8%, U.S. 8.4%). <1% of Brunswick’s commuters take a bus or train.
How Brunswick ranks: 1,039th of 1,712 U.S. towns of 16,000 to 31,000
| # | Town | People | Household income | Poverty | Unemployment | Work in town | Grade |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Springfield VA | 22,532 | $163K | 1.9% | 1.7% | 3% | A+ |
| 2 | Mountain Brook AL | 21,661 | $201K | 3.2% | 1.2% | 8% | A+ |
| 3 | Lake Forest IL | 19,731 | $235K | 3.5% | 1.8% | 12% | A+ |
| … | |||||||
| 166 | Scarborough ME | 24,547 | $134K | 4.4% | 2.2% | 19% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 195 | Windham ME | 19,912 | $108K | 3.4% | 1.5% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 283 | Gorham ME | 19,239 | $112K | 3.7% | 2.6% | 13% | A |
| … | |||||||
| 1,037 | Richmond Hill GA | 20,022 | $93K | 8.8% | 5.8% | 11% | B |
| 1,038 | Salem VA | 25,816 | $67K | 10.2% | 3.6% | 26% | B |
| 1,039 | Brunswick ME | 23,055 | $75K | 7.7% | 4.6% | 25% | B |
| 1,040 | Seagoville TX | 21,077 | $67K | 11.8% | 4.6% | 3% | B |
| 1,041 | Ferndale WA | 17,559 | $88K | 12.8% | 3.1% | 13% | B |
| … | |||||||
| 1,712 | Douglas AZ | 16,038 | $42K | 27.8% | 12.3% | 29% | D− |
Census ACS 2020–24 (income, poverty, unemployment), Census LEHD (work in town), TownRatings Jobs & income grades. Each town links to its Work & commute page.
Ranked on the Jobs & income grade: the towns either side of Brunswick, the top three, the last and three more from Maine.
Brunswick and its neighbors: 15% work next door
The biggest share goes to Bath (7%).
Average commute minutes, one way
Jobs & commute next door
| Town | Brunswick workers there | Jobs & income | Walkability | Commute | Household income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brunswick | – | B | A | 23 min | $74,952 |
| Topsham | 4% | B+ | B− | 24 min | $91,028 |
| Harpswell | under 3% | A− | C− | 30 min | $96,250 |
| West Bath | under 3% | A− | C− | 21 min | $103,333 |
| Freeport | 4% | B+ | A− | 24 min | $107,326 |
| Bath | 7% | C+ | A | 24 min | $69,390 |
| Durham | under 3% | B | D | 28 min | $99,181 |
Same-state neighbors only. Commute: average minutes each way, Census ACS 2020–24.
Darker towns draw more of Brunswick’s workers. Tap a town to see its commute.
What this data can and can’t tell you
- Two sources, two years. Trips, distances and jobs based here: Census LEHD 2023, primary jobs, where the employer reports them. Income, poverty, unemployment, commute time and how people travel: Census ACS 2020–24 averages.
- Straight lines, older transit. Miles are as the crow flies. EPA’s walkability and transit files use 2017–20 inputs.
Jobs and commuting in Brunswick: questions
What is the median household income in Brunswick?
$74,952 (±$6,048) (Census ACS 2020–24), against $74,733 across Maine and $80,734 nationally.
What is the poverty rate in Brunswick?
7.7%, against 10.7% across Maine and 12.5% nationally (Census ACS 2020–24).
How long is the commute from Brunswick?
23 minutes each way on average, against 25 across Maine and 26 nationally. 20% of workers work from home.
Where do people who live in Brunswick work?
25% work in town. The top destinations elsewhere are Portland (14%, 21 mi), Bath (7%, 7 mi), Freeport (4%, 7 mi) (Census LEHD 2023).
Is Brunswick walkable?
Brunswick is more walkable than 89% of U.S. towns (Walkability A): an EPA walkability index of 8.2 out of 20, and 14% of commuters walk, bike or take transit.
Can you get around Brunswick without a car?
<1% of commuters take transit and 7% of households have no car. 0% of residents live within a quarter mile of a stop.
Commuter talk
Getting to work from Brunswick, from the people who make the trip.
More of Brunswick
Flows, distances and jobs: U.S. Census Bureau, LEHD Origin-Destination Employment Statistics (LODES 8), 2023, primary jobs. Commute time, working from home and working out of state: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 5-year estimates. Distances are straight lines between home and work; real drives run longer. Walkability index, job access and transit service: U.S. EPA Smart Location Database. The two grades are our own summaries of these figures, not official ratings.